The Birdcage Archives

Tuesday 17 January 2017

Jacob Polley wins 2016 T.S. Eliot Prize


Hello Gentle Reader,

The judges for the 2016 T.S. Eliot Prize described Jacob Polley’s poetry collection: “Jackself,” as a: “Firework of a book.” The poetry collection uses the nursey rhyme “Jack,” to narrate a collection of poems about a mythological and loosely autobiographical English childhood. This is not the first time Jacob Polley has found himself acquainted with the T.S. Eliot Prize. Polley was shortlisted in two-thousand three with his debut collection of poems: “The Brink,” and would return again to the shortlist in two-thousand and twelve with his second collection of poems: “The Havocs.” Since his debut, Jacob Polley has been a noted poetic force in contemporary English poetry.  In two-thousand and four he was one of the twenty poets who were named to be the best poets of the Next Generation of British poetry. But poetry has not been Polley’s sole medium of writing. In two-thousand and ten he has written a novel: Talk of the Town,” which won the Somerset Maugham award.

Ruth Padel who chaired this years judges, would go on to describe “Jackself,” as follows:

“It’s a sort of autobiography, set in a place called Lamanby, but it’s really like Mervyn Peake’s Gormenghast, where everything is strange. His mastery of phrase and rhythm and the control of line, combined with the hurts of childhood and his glee in inventive language, have taken his writing to a new level.”

The T.S. Eliot Prize carries a £20, 000 purse, with the runners up to the award each receiving £1500 dollars. For this the award is noted as being the most coveted poetry award in the United Kingdom. Last year, for the first time the award went to a debut collection called: “Loop of Jade,” by Sarah Howe.

Congratulations to Jacob Polley! May he write more prose work hopefully in the future along with his teaching career and his rising poetic success.

Thank-you For Reading Gentle Reader
Take Care
And As Always
Stay Well Read


M. Mary

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